Tuesday, January 26, 2016

The article focuses on the decrease in the value of trade between China and Africa for 2015. It reports that China exported $102 billion to Africa in 2015 and imported only $67 billion for a total of $169 billion. The article did not provide the source of the trade numbers.

This compares, however, to total trade in 2014 of $222 billion according to China's official number or $203 billion according to IMF Direction of Trade statistics. Whatever number is used for 2014, the 2015 figure is not only a sharp drop, but demonstrates a troubling trade deficit for Africa. Much of the decrease in China's imports from Africa is due to lower oil and mineral prices.